Notes and Editorial Reviews

This is a hybrid Super Audio CD set playable on both regular and Super Audio CD players.

Symphonic Recording of the Year - 2011 ECHO Klassik Awards

Sir Charles Mackerras and his Scottish players are working backwards through Mozart's symphonies. This second volume follows their acclaimed (and award-winning) set of the last four symphonies with a group of works mainly from the latter part of his Salzburg period along with two he composed following his relocation to Vienna. Is another complete edition planned? It would be Sir Charles's second, following his survey with the Prague Chamber Orchestra (Telarc). There are some gaps here: Symphonies Nos 33 and 34, for example, and Nos 28 and 30 which bothRead more post-dated No 29. Perhaps they'll appear on Vol 3 with the "Little" G minor Symphony, K183.

These two discs display all the qualities identified by Lindsay Kemp in his review of the later symphonies (4/08). There's a clarity to the acoustic as recorded in Glasgow's City Halls, which Mackerras uses to his advantage, instinctively bringing out telling inner lines: listen especially for the ear-tweaking viola "stabs" in the second subject of No 29's first movement or the clattering horns at climaxes throughout the symphony. This work, surely Mozart's first symphonic miracle, is given added weight and import by Mackerras's decision to take all repeats, demonstrating especially that the fourth movement is far more than a mere chase finale. Claudio Abbado has also taken the period-informed modern-instrument approach with his hand-picked Orchestra Mozart (A/08; K201 is the one overlap with this selection) but I'm afraid I can't share my colleagues' enthusiasm for his joyless way with this music. The Paris is the least convincing of Mozart's later symphonies but Mackerras known (and shows) that there's plenty to be discovered beyond the French-pleasing special effects and brilliant orchestration. He also offers both slow movements: Mozart wrote a replacement to appease a cloth-eared audience who didn't recognise a genius when he was among them. More fool them, and alleluia that it's all the more Mozart for the rest of us. In fact there's so much to enjoy on these discs - armfuls of the humanity and wisdom referred to by LK, and vivacity aplenty too in the Haffner and Linz, advanced wayposts on the march towards the unparalleled mastery of the last three symphonies.

-- David Threasher, Gramophone

"Another offering from Sir Charles' Indian Summer; superb, vital accounts of five more important Mozart symphonies; the Scottish Chamber Orchestra doesn't play period instruments or eschew vibrato, but the hard sticks on the timpani give it an authentic flavour from a long-renowned Mozart specialist."
-- Peter Grahame Woolf, Musical Pointers [2/2010]

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The multi-award-winning partnership of the Scottish Chamber Orchestra and Sir Charles Mackerras is reunited in this second collection of Mozart Symphonies featuring Nos 29, 31 (Paris), 32, 35 (Haffner) & 36 (Linz). This much anticipated recording follows on from the astounding success of
Mozart Symphonies 38 - 41 which resulted in him winning the Critics Award at the 2009 BRIT Awards and led to
Mozart Symphonies 38-41 being named Disc of the Year at the 2009 BBC Music Magazine Awards.

- This recording includes both versions of the 2nd movement of the Paris Symphony; unusually Sir Charles requested that the alternative version follows the original, rather than coming at the end of the album as an appendix.
- An obsessive musical researcher, Sir Charles merged his considerable knowledge of these works with scores and parts he has been editing from available sources for years in preparation for this recording.
- Sir Charles Mackerras has won widespread praise for his fresh, vibrant and youthful Mozart performances, which was named the classical recording of 2008 by the Sunday Times and HMV Choice. It also won a 2009 Midem Award for Symphonic Works and a Choc de l année Award from Le Monde de la Musique.
- This recording re-unites the award-winning team, including producer James Mallinson, who has just been nominated for a Grammy award.
- Sir Charles Mackerras, the SCO's Conductor Laureate, has produced numerous award-winning recordings, performed fifty times at the Edinburgh Festival and in 2005 was the first recipient of the
Queens Medal for Music.
- The Orchestra has a large international fan base following recent performances

Customer Reviews

Average Customer Review: ( 2 Customer Reviews )

I agree with Mr. BlancoMay 18, 2012By Richard H. (Glendale, AZ)See All My Reviews"This is one of the best performances of these works that I've ever heard. Mackerras treats this music precisely and with great depth. There is both fire and ice just where it belongs."Report Abuse

Mozart on SteroidsMay 10, 2012By F. Blanco (Miami, FL)See All My Reviews"A beautiful set of Mozart's mature symphonies. Don't let my heading fool you... there's plenty of charm and finesse to go around, but there's muscle too, when called for. This is nothing like the Marriner/ASMF recordings, and I love those recordings, both the earlier on Phillips and more recent EMI. Same goes for Mackerras' 38 - 41. The sound quality on sacd is astounding. "Report Abuse